This is an online repository of constitutions--available in English or in English translation. Developed by the Comparative Constitutions Project, the site allows for comparison of passages from selected documents. Note that HeinOnline's "World Constitutions Illustrated" subscription database also contains the full texts of the constitutions of Latin American countries.

The purpose of this website, jointly administered by several international organizations (FAO, IUCN, and UNEP) is to provide the "most comprehensive possible global source of information on environmental law." The site includes a database of national environmental legislation, which includes Latin American nations.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) maintains NATLEX--a database of national labor, social security, and human rights legislation. The database currently contains over 65,000 records, covering more than 190 countries. Records are provided in only one of the ILO's official languages, which are English, Spanish, and French. NATLEX is browsable by country and subject, and there is also an "Advanced Search" function available.

This is a large source of political information on Latin America, maintained by Georgetown's Center for Latin American Studies. Links to primary law are included, along with extensive information on national political parties and electoral data and systems.

This is a database of national cultural heritage laws in the vernacular, as well as any available official or unofficial English translations. The database may be searched by country, heritage category, theme, type of instrument, and also by language.

WIPO Lex is an international database of Intellectual Property laws and treaties, maintained by the World Intellectual Property Organization. The database is searchable by country and subject, and there is also keyword search capability.

Several non-profit regional legal information initiatives created and now maintain World LII. The site offers legal subject-based links for individual countries. Click on "All Countries" for an alphabetical list.

Edited by the Hispanic Division of the Library of Congress, the Handbook is an interdisciplinary bibliography of published works pertaining to the general topic of Latin American Studies. The Handbook is updated annually.

This is a comprehensive website dedicated to a variety of Latin American topics, including law and justice, political science, and human rights. According to LANIC's editors at the University of Texas at Austin, the site contains over 10,000 urls and is one of the largest sources of Latin American content on the WWW. Note, however, that this extensive portal has not been updated since 2015.

This is a large collection of English-language overviews of conducting business in various foreign jurisdictions. The authors are members of Lex Mundi, a global organization of attorneys representing over 100 countries. Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, and Honduras are some of the Latin American countries featured in the collection.

Located in The Hague, the Peace Palace Library serves the International Court of Justice and has been collecting international legal materials since 1913. The Library's website provides access to its online catalogue, as well as various research guides.

Refword is an international database, organized by country, and maintained by the United Nations High Commmission on Human Rights (UNHCR). The database contains a collection of reports and policy documents relating to refugee status and human rights issues.

This is an extensive online collection of 60,000+ human rights treaties and other human rights documents. Numerous links are also provided to human rights websites. Additionally, there is a site-specific search engine available, and a section on "Resources for Researching Country Conditions."

This page provides access to current "Doing Business" English-language guides for over 180 countries, based on annual World Bank surveys. Each guide provides detailed information on starting a business, dealing with permits, hiring workers, etc., in the specific locale.

Subject Guide

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Blogs & Current Awareness

There are numerous blogs that focus on international law, and several that focus on Latin American law generally, and others on the law of specific Latin American countries. Many of these are in Spanish. There are also sites that focus on Latin American current events and politics and regularly update their content.

NatLaw World Database

The National Law Center for Inter-American Free Trade, which is affiliated with the James E. Rogers College of Law at the University of Arizona, maintains the NatLaw World Database. This database contains laws, regulations, case law, and secondary source materials related to trade and investment for countries in the Americas. Most of the materials are in Spanish, although many English translations are available. Access to the majority of the database's content is by subscription, although some free materials are available.

Print Research Guide

Prepared in the summer of 2009, updated in February 2012, this 23-page guide offers instructions and tips on how to research foreign, comparative, and international law at the LUC Law Library. The annotated guide lists print reference sources, subscription databases, free websites, and current awareness sources that may be useful when approaching foreign, comparative and international law questions.